# College of Charleston Family Weekend, November 4 to 8, 2026: seven walls to photograph on campus and in downtown Charleston > College of Charleston Homecoming and Family Weekend, November 4 to 8, 2026: five walls in downtown Charleston and two on the campus that line up with the sunset or the sunrise, when to be there between the weekend's listed events, and where to stand for the family picture. This is the Markdown form of https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-college-of-charleston-family-weekend-2026, with the same words as the page. Part of [Family Weekends 2026](https://hengedays.com/articles/family-weekends-2026), school 22 of 26. Previous school: [Swarthmore College](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-swarthmore-family-weekend-2026). Next school: [University of Georgia](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-uga-family-weekend-2026). *The Wilmot J. Fraser building, the family photo spot in this guide, in Henge Days. Pink marks the walls the setting sun lines up with on Saturday and Sunday of Family Weekend.* For November 4 to 8, 2026. Homecoming and Family Weekend at the College of Charleston runs from Wednesday, November 4, to Sunday, November 8, 2026. The five buildings below, all in downtown Charleston within 2 kilometers of the Cistern Yard, have a wall that faces the setting sun or the rising sun on those days, with a public sidewalk or park to stand on. All times are Eastern Standard Time. Post your pictures with #HengeDays. In this article - [The weekend's schedule and the light](#the-weekend-s-schedule-and-the-light) - [Part 1: the College of Charleston campus](#part-1-the-college-of-charleston-campus) - [Part 2: Downtown Charleston](#part-2-downtown-charleston) - [Low sun](#low-sun) - [How the list was made](#how-the-list-was-made) - [How to read each entry](#how-to-read-each-entry) Sunrise is at 6:40 AM EST on Wednesday and 6:43 AM EST on Sunday. Sunset is at 5:26 PM EST on Wednesday and 5:22 PM EST on Sunday. Four of the five walls are evening walls. Two more walls on the campus get the sun when it is a little higher, in the Low sun section. ### The weekend's schedule and the light The events below are the ones the College's Homecoming page listed in search results on October 17. Henge Days could not open the page itself. The search results quote it as a schedule under construction as of June 23, so check times and places at [homecoming.charleston.edu](https://www.homecoming.charleston.edu/) before you plan around them. The results list no events for Sunday. - Wednesday, November 4, 6:00 to 8:00 PM EST: Carnival in Cistern Yard. Before it, the Ashley House on Lockwood Drive at 4:57 PM EST, golden light, about 1.3 kilometers west of the Cistern Yard. - Thursday, November 5, 6:00 to 9:00 PM EST: Special Campus Celebration at TD Arena. Before it, the shop building at 588 East Bay Street at 4:51 PM EST and TD Bank at 4:53 PM EST, both golden light and about 1 kilometer northeast of the arena. The Ashley House follows at 4:59 PM EST. - Friday, November 6, noon to 2:00 PM EST: Scholarship Luncheon. The middle of the day is free for King Street and Marion Square, in Part 2. - Friday, November 6, 5:00 to 7:00 PM EST: Tailgate in Cistern Yard, then the men's basketball game at TD Arena at 7:30 PM EST. Before the tailgate, 588 East Bay Street at 4:53 PM EST, TD Bank at 4:55 PM EST or the Ashley House at 5:00 PM EST. - Saturday, November 7, morning: Society at Laurens, apartments on Washington Street, at 7:16 AM EST, the one sunrise wall in the list. After it, the Alumni Awards Recipient Breakfast from 9:00 to 10:15 AM EST in the Hill Gallery at the School of the Arts, and the Alumni Awards Ceremony from 10:30 to 11:30 AM EST in the Recital Hall. - Saturday, November 7, 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM EST: Family Picnic on Rivers Green. The afternoon is free for the walk through downtown in Part 2. The Sigma Nu reunion is from 3:00 to 5:00 PM EST in the Hill Gallery. - Saturday, November 7, 5:00 to 8:00 PM EST: Oyster Roast and Lowcountry Boil Party in Cistern Yard. Before it, the Wilmot J. Fraser building on East Hampstead Square at 4:51 PM EST, the family photo spot below, about 1.5 kilometers north of the Cistern Yard. - Saturday, November 7, 7:30 to 9:30 PM EST: National Pan-Hellenic Council Step Show at Festival Hall. - Sunday, November 8: no events in the search results. Society at Laurens lines up at 7:15 AM EST, the Wilmot J. Fraser building at 4:52 PM EST and the Ashley House at 5:04 PM EST. ### Part 1: the College of Charleston campus No wall on the campus lines up with the sun on the horizon or in golden light this weekend with a clear view and a public place to stand. Most of the College's buildings follow the street grid and face 65, 155, 245 or 335 degrees. The setting sun stands in line with the walls facing 243 to 246 degrees between 4:27 and 4:47 PM EST this weekend, 6 to 10 degrees up, and the old houses, churches and halls around the Cistern Yard stand in the way of most of those walls. Randolph Hall, the Stern Student Center, the Rita Hollings Science Center and the Albert Simons Center for the Arts all line up that way and are in shade at that moment. Two campus walls get that low sun with a clear view, and the Low sun section lists them. The one campus wall with golden light, the back of the Farr House on Coming Street, faces a rear lot, and the map shows no public walk to stand on, so it is left out. ### Part 2: Downtown Charleston Downtown starts at the edge of the campus. King Street runs south past the Sottile Theatre to Broad Street, with Marion Square and the Charleston Museum on Meeting Street to the north. The City Market, the French Quarter, Waterfront Park, Rainbow Row, the Battery and Colonial Lake are within 2 kilometers of the Cistern Yard on foot. Those are the places to walk between events. Their buildings do not line up with this weekend's sun with a clear view, and the houses that do, on East Battery and south of Broad Street, are homes. The five walls below are on the edges of the peninsula: one on Lockwood Drive by the Ashley River, three on and near upper East Bay Street, and one on Washington Street near the Cooper River. #### 1 Ashley House Charleston, South Carolina Wall west-southwest, facing 248° Sun The low evening sun lines up with this wall on Nov 4 to 8. Best: Sunday, November 8 at 5:04 PM, 3.1° above the horizon. Leaves Charleston's live oaks, palmettos and magnolias keep their leaves through November, so the trees in the picture are green. Where to stand The wall is the west side of the tower, 36 m facing 248 degrees. Stand on the sidewalk along Lockwood Drive, west-southwest of the wall, with the sun behind you. Stay off the building's lawn and drive. The sun lines up with the wall on all five days: Wednesday at 4:57 PM EST, 5.0 degrees up, Thursday at 4:59 PM EST, 4.5 degrees up, Friday at 5:00 PM EST, 4.0 degrees up, Saturday at 5:02 PM EST, 3.5 degrees up, and Sunday at 5:04 PM EST, 3.1 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 1.5 to 6 degrees up. The commercial building at 27 Lockwood Drive rises 2.2 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under it on each day. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. Clear view Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (3.1° up) in its direction. A condominium tower at 14 Lockwood Drive, by the Ashley River and the city marina. Construction began in August 1964, the first apartments were rented in October 1965, and the units became condominiums in 1980 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_House_(Charleston,_South_Carolina))). People live here, so photograph it from the public sidewalk only. *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 248°, toward the sunset on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Mon, Nov 2 to Sun, Nov 15, 2026**14 evenings · best Sun, Nov 15 **5:16 PM** Golden sunset, sun 0° up WSW 248° wall Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password. *The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.* [Open this wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/at/32.78053,-79.95091?q=Ashley+House%2C+Charleston%2C+SC&b=osm%2Fway%2F77929624&facade=1&d=2026-11-02) #### 2 Wilmot J. Fraser building Charleston, South Carolina Wall west-southwest, facing 246° Sun The low evening sun lines up with this wall on Nov 7 to 8. Best: Sunday, November 8 at 4:52 PM, 5.2° above the horizon. Leaves Charleston's live oaks, palmettos and magnolias keep their leaves through November, so the trees in the picture are green. Where to stand The wall is the long west side, facing 246 degrees across East Hampstead Square to the park. Stand on the far sidewalk of East Hampstead Square or in the park, west-southwest of the wall, with the sun behind you. The sun lines up with the wall on Saturday at 4:51 PM EST, 5.7 degrees up, and on Sunday at 4:52 PM EST, 5.2 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 1.5 to 6 degrees up. About 54 m of the 83 m wall is in the sun. The house at 6 Hampden Court rises 2.8 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under it on both days. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. Clear view Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (5.2° up) in its direction. The former Wilmot J. Fraser Elementary School at 63 Columbus Street, in the Eastside neighborhood. It opened in the 1950s as the Columbus Street School for Black students and was renamed for Wilmot Jefferson Fraser (1905 to 1979), an educator who led several Charleston schools. It closed as an elementary school around 2009, and the Charleston County School District has planned to reuse it ([College of Charleston Libraries](https://findingaids.library.cofc.edu/agents/people/1000), [Liollio Architecture](https://liollio.com/news/2025/2/27/celebrating-black-history-month-2025-reflecting-on-wilmot-j-fraser-elementary)). The grounds are school property, so stay on the sidewalk or in the park. *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 246°, toward the sunset on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Sat, Nov 7 to Sat, Nov 21, 2026**15 evenings · best Sat, Nov 21 **5:14 PM** Golden sunset, sun 0° up WSW 246° wall Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password. *The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.* [Open this wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/at/32.79624,-79.93496?q=Wilmot+J.+Fraser+Campus+Building%2C+Charleston%2C+SC&b=osm%2Fway%2F1457657955&facade=4&d=2026-11-07) Family photo spot. Stand the family on the sidewalk along the west wall of the Wilmot J. Fraser building, a few steps out from the brick, turned partway toward the camera. The photographer stands in the park across East Hampstead Square, west-southwest of them, with the sun low behind and to one side. That lights faces and the wall behind them in the same warm light. Go on Saturday at 4:51 PM EST, before the Oyster Roast in the Cistern Yard at 5:00 PM EST, or on Sunday at 4:52 PM EST. Post it with #HengeDays. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. #### 3 Shop building at 588 East Bay Street Charleston, South Carolina Wall west-southwest, facing 247° Sun The low evening sun lines up with this wall on Nov 5 to 8. Best: Sunday, November 8 at 4:56 PM, 4.4° above the horizon. Leaves Charleston's live oaks, palmettos and magnolias keep their leaves through November, so the trees in the picture are green. Where to stand The wall is the front on East Bay Street, 30 m facing 247 degrees. Stand on the sidewalk on the far side of East Bay Street, west-southwest of the wall, with the sun behind you. The sun lines up with the wall on Thursday at 4:51 PM EST, 5.9 degrees up, Friday at 4:53 PM EST, 5.4 degrees up, Saturday at 4:55 PM EST, 4.9 degrees up, and Sunday at 4:56 PM EST, 4.4 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 1.5 to 6 degrees up. About 18 m of the 30 m wall is in the sun. The house at 19 Drake Street rises 2.0 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under it on each day. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. Clear view Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (4.4° up) in its direction. A shop building on upper East Bay Street, at the north end of Wraggborough. OpenStreetMap names no business in it, so check what is there before you go. Its front on East Bay Street faces the setting sun. *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 247°, toward the sunset on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Thu, Nov 5 to Thu, Nov 19, 2026**15 evenings · best Thu, Nov 19 **5:15 PM** Golden sunset, sun 0° up WSW 247° wall Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password. *The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.* [Open this wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/at/32.79375,-79.93168?q=588+East+Bay+Street%2C+Charleston%2C+SC&b=osm%2Fway%2F263441437&facade=0&d=2026-11-05) #### 4 TD Bank Charleston, South Carolina Wall west-southwest, facing 247° Sun The low evening sun lines up with this wall on Nov 5 to 8. Best: Sunday, November 8 at 4:58 PM, 4.1° above the horizon. Leaves Charleston's live oaks, palmettos and magnolias keep their leaves through November, so the trees in the picture are green. Where to stand The wall is the front on East Bay Street, 15 m facing 247 degrees. Stand on the sidewalk on the far side of East Bay Street, west-southwest of the wall, with the sun behind you. Stay out of the bank's drive and parking. The sun lines up with the wall on Thursday at 4:53 PM EST, 5.6 degrees up, Friday at 4:55 PM EST, 5.1 degrees up, Saturday at 4:56 PM EST, 4.6 degrees up, and Sunday at 4:58 PM EST, 4.1 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 1.5 to 6 degrees up. The house at 132 Alexander Street rises 2.4 degrees toward the sun in the outlines, under it on each day. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. Clear view Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (4.1° up) in its direction. A bank branch on upper East Bay Street at Chapel Street, about 140 m south of the shop building at 588 East Bay Street. Its front faces the street and the setting sun. *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 247°, toward the sunset on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Thu, Nov 5 to Wed, Nov 18, 2026**14 evenings · best Wed, Nov 18 **5:15 PM** Golden sunset, sun 0° up WSW 247° wall Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password. *The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.* [Open this wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/at/32.79251,-79.93114?q=TD+Bank%2C+East+Bay+Street%2C+Charleston%2C+SC&b=osm%2Fway%2F264710783&facade=0&d=2026-11-05) #### 5 Society at Laurens Charleston, South Carolina Wall east-southeast, facing 114° Sun The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Nov 7 to 8. Best: Sunday, November 8 at 7:15 AM, 5.5° above the horizon. Leaves Charleston's live oaks, palmettos and magnolias keep their leaves through November, so the trees in the picture are green. Where to stand The wall is the east side of the building on Washington Street, 26 m facing 114 degrees. Stand on the sidewalk on the far side of Washington Street, east-southeast of the wall, with the sun behind you. Stay off the property's grounds and drives. A low building stands between the sidewalk and the middle of the wall, so frame the north end. The sun lines up with the wall on Saturday at 7:16 AM EST, 6.0 degrees up, and on Sunday at 7:15 AM EST, 5.5 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 1.5 to 6 degrees up. A building toward the sun rises 1.2 degrees in the outlines, under it on both days. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. Clear view Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (5.5° up) in its direction. An apartment community of 148 homes at 31 Laurens Street in Ansonborough, which Southern Land Company opened in 2025 ([Southern Land Company](https://southernland.com/new-luxury-multifamily-community-society-148-residences-opens-in-downtown-charleston-south-carolina/)). People live here, so photograph it from the public sidewalk only. This is the one wall in the list that faces the sunrise. *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 114°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Sat, Nov 7 to Sun, Nov 22, 2026**16 mornings · best Sun, Nov 22 **6:57 AM** Golden sunrise, sun 0° up ESE 114° wall Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password. *The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.* [Open this wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/at/32.78617,-79.92853?q=Society+At+Laurens%2C+Charleston%2C+SC&b=osm%2Fway%2F1370932721&facade=10&d=2026-11-07) ### Low sun These campus walls line up with the sun later, when it is 6 to 10 degrees up. The light is still low and warm, but less red than at the horizon. Each name opens the wall in Henge Days. - [Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library](https://hengedays.com/at/32.78419,-79.93981?q=Marlene+%26+Nathan+Addlestone+Library%2C+205+Calhoun+Street%2C+Charleston%2C+SC&b=osm%2Fway%2F38089422&facade=10&d=2026-10-25), 205 Calhoun Street: the library's west side, 74 m facing 245 degrees, lines up with the sun every day of the weekend, from Wednesday at 4:33 PM EST, 9.4 degrees up, to Sunday at 4:40 PM EST, 7.5 degrees up. The sun is 6 to 10 degrees up at that moment. About 24 m of the wall is in the sun. The church at 57 Pitt Street shades the rest. Stand on the public sidewalk of Calhoun Street at the library's northwest corner, where the west side comes into view with the sun to your left, and stay out of the church's parking lot west of the library. The Cistern Yard, where the Friday tailgate and the Saturday oyster roast start at 5:00 PM EST, is a block east. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. - [Buist-Rivers Residence Hall](https://hengedays.com/at/32.78430,-79.93848?q=Buist-Rivers+Residence+Hall%2C+Charleston%2C+SC&b=osm%2Fway%2F445138773&facade=0&d=2026-10-27), a residence hall between Coming Street and College Way: its west end, 20 m facing 244 degrees, lines up with the sun from Thursday at 4:29 PM EST, 10.0 degrees up, to Sunday at 4:34 PM EST, 8.6 degrees up. The sun is 6 to 10 degrees up at that moment. About 11 m of the wall is in the sun. Stand on the campus walk west of the hall, with the sun behind you. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. ### How the list was made Henge Days computed every named building with a wall of 8 m or more, and every unnamed building with a wall of 20 m or more, within 300 to 450 meters of 17 points: the Cistern Yard, Addlestone Library and Calhoun Street, the Rita Hollings Science Center and St. Philip Street, the Wentworth Street halls, the Sottile Theatre and King Street, TD Arena and Marion Square, the Charleston Museum and Wraggborough, the Harbor Walk campus on Concord Street, Meeting Street and the City Market, Broad Street and the Four Corners of Law, the French Quarter and Waterfront Park, Rainbow Row and the Battery, Colonial Lake, Lockwood Drive, East Bay Street and the Gaillard Center, upper East Bay Street, and Radcliffeborough. It used OpenStreetMap outlines and kept the walls where the sun lines up with the wall within 10 degrees of the horizon on at least one day from November 4 to 8. It then traced the sun's path from each wall and dropped the walls where another building stands higher than the sun. For each wall kept, a second search centered 400 m along the sun's path checked for taller buildings farther out. Five walls with the sun on the horizon or in golden light pass every check, all of them downtown and none of them henge days, so the guide has five picks. Some walls line up and are left out. The long west side of the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center on Bee Street faces the sunset on the horizon on Saturday and Sunday, but the search along the sun's path found the Courtyard Charleston Waterfront hotel across the Ashley River rising 8.4 degrees, above the sun. The William Ravenel House and the John Ravenel House on East Battery face the sunrise on the horizon on these mornings, and the Shackleford-Williams House nearby lines up in golden light, but all three are homes. The public building at 557 East Bay Street has a 64 m wall in golden light, but it faces a parking lot and the houses of Drake Street, and on Sunday a house there rises within 0.1 degree of the sun. The Friendship Baptist Church on America Street and the church at 57 Pitt Street face narrow side lots with no public place to stand. Buildings 145 and 161 near the foot of Columbus Street are industrial buildings with no public place to stand in front of them. The hotel at 149 Wentworth Street lines up with the low sun, but its link in Henge Days opens a different wall, so it is left out. Trees and the water's edge are not part of that check, and the times assume a level horizon. Charleston is flat, and the Ashley House on Lockwood Drive faces the Ashley River, so the horizon there is close to level. Live oaks along the streets can take the sun before the buildings do. Where an outline carries no height, the check estimated one from the building's type. No wall in this guide depends on an estimate. Every date and time comes from the Henge Days engine for the wall's own bearing, in Eastern Standard Time. ### How to read each entry Each entry shows the building as Henge Days shows it. The map marks the building's outline from OpenStreetMap, gives every wall its compass bearing, and highlights the wall that lines up with the sun. Below it are the wall's row from the building's Henge days list, with a Save button that keeps the best day in your planner, and a year of head-on days for every wall. The Clear view line is the result of the check for other buildings. Any building has a page like the ones above, your student's hall included. Whatever you shoot on campus or downtown, post it with #HengeDays: [Look up a building](https://hengedays.com/) [Open your planner](https://hengedays.com/planner) ### Sources - [College of Charleston: Homecoming and Family Weekend 2026](https://www.homecoming.charleston.edu/) - [Wikipedia: Ashley House (Charleston, South Carolina)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_House_(Charleston,_South_Carolina)) - [College of Charleston Libraries: Wilmot Jefferson Fraser, 1905 to 1979](https://findingaids.library.cofc.edu/agents/people/1000) - [Liollio Architecture: Wilmot J. Fraser Elementary, February 2025](https://liollio.com/news/2025/2/27/celebrating-black-history-month-2025-reflecting-on-wilmot-j-fraser-elementary) - [Southern Land Company: Society opens in downtown Charleston](https://southernland.com/new-luxury-multifamily-community-society-148-residences-opens-in-downtown-charleston-south-carolina/) - [Building outlines: OpenStreetMap contributors](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) ### The newsletter Henge Days also has a newsletter. It covers what each release of the site adds and how to use it, and the buildings the #HengeDays community photographs in head-on light. [Read it on Substack](https://hengedays.substack.com/). The address goes to Substack, which sends the email and asks you to confirm. Henge Days does not keep it. --- Every date and time on Henge Days is computed from a building outline in OpenStreetMap and the position of the sun. Nobody has checked it on the ground. Hills, trees and other buildings can block a low sun. Treat each date as a plan to confirm before you travel. See https://hengedays.com/terms.md. Henge Days is free to use; sign in only to save days to a planner. Contact: hello@hengedays.com.